The special counsel team investigating the “Corporal Chae case” granted a suspension of indictment to former officials Im Ki-hoon and Lee Si-won, citing their active cooperation in clarifying key facts. Although both had been implicated in linking the Presidential Office and the Defense Ministry during the retrieval of initial Marine Corps investigation records, the special counsel viewed their role as contributing to fact-finding. Legal experts emphasized that this decision is unrelated to Article 23 of the Special Counsel Act, which applies only at the trial stage. Partner Shinyoung Choi added, “Article 23 concerns sentencing mitigation at trial, while a suspension of indictment is a separate prosecutorial decision with a different legal nature.”

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